Spalding Facebook anti fly-tipping group in first big blitz

A new anti fly-tipping group has its first big litter-picking blitz in Spalding on Saturday.

Mark Douglass founded Facebook group Flytipping Watch Spalding & Local in mid-January and membership has already soared to 288.

In November he launched his first group in Boston and a new one has opened in Sleaford as Mark (44) pursues his aim to cover the whole county.

Facebook fly-tipping campaigner Mark Douglass will lead his first big clean-up in Spalding on Saturday.

On Saturday volunteers will meet at 10am at the bottom of Stumps Lane, Spalding, with the aim of clearing an area up to Wykeham Drain and along Marsh Road.

Mark says fly-tipping is endemic across Lincolnshire but Spalding seems to have a particular problem with rubbish dumped on side-roads off the A16.

He says members of the Boston and Spalding fly-tip groups are reporting four or five incidents a day.

"I guarantee you there's a lot more that aren't getting reported," says Mark.

Volunteers are welcome to join Saturday's blitz but Mark asks that any children attending should be accompanied by adults who can supervise them.

He also asks that volunteers try to take along their own equipment, although the group can provide a limited amount.

Mark has a meeting with South Holland District Council on February 28 to discuss how his group can work in partnership with the authority.

The campaigner is encouraged by tweets from Lincolnsire Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, who aims to turn Lincolnshire into a "fly-tip free zone".

In Tuesday's Free Press, we reported on a summit of local authorities, drainage boards and other agencies that Mr Jones called to tackle the fly-tipping menace.

Mr Jones has committed to creating a "hot spot" map - showing the locations across the county most used by fly-tippers - as a first step in an intelligence gathering process. Click here to read the story.

We reported on Mark's Spalding group when it was launched - for the full story click here.